In 2017, one of Nintendo’s most iconic series made a powerful comeback to fans and social media with the game, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was most known for its very unique style of gameplay and how open world it is. Even though the game has a story, the game doesn’t force the player to follow it. Due to its unique  style of gameplay, it won Game of the Year in 2017. Recently in May of 2023, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released. Many people have been wondering if the sequel will win Game of the Year or will it be known as just a simple copy and paste of its predecessor.

Gameplay

To start off, Tears of the Kingdom runs on the same engine as Breath of the Wild, meaning its overall controls and the layout of the game is very similar. However, it starts the player off where the previous game ended and continues the story. Once the player gets past the prologue of the story, they can start getting into what this game has to offer.

Abilities

In Breath of the Wild the main character, Link, had a special tablet that gave him access to different abilities called the Sheikah Slate. Now in Tears of the Kingdom, the Sheikah Slate is no more and his abilities are now tied to Link’s new arm that he got after the events of the prologue. His new abilities are much more unique. One example is the Ultrahand where he can now pick up objects and attach them to other objects. Ascend is where he can go through the ground from the bottom up. Fuse, where the player can merge a weapon and a random object of their choosing together. That’s just to name a few of the new abilities. 

He also has the ability to call upon allies’ abilities as well. Those changed as well, he can now call the allies’ themselves and not only use their abilities but also have an extra partner for battles. The developers of this game really wanted to push players to use these new abilities to get through any problem the game challenges the player with.

Environment

 Previously in Breath of the Wild, there was only one area that the player would explore and that was the surface. In Tears of the Kingdom there are two new areas that the player can explore, the sky, and the depths. This give the player a more open world experience.

The sky is where the player starts off after the prologue, though they won’t notice it at first until they look down and realize they’re thousands of feet in the air. This is where the new mechanic of being able to dive in the air makes an appearance. It also introduces a new system to the game called Zonai Energy, where the player can make new items like planes, weapons, or even cars if they’re good at it. 

The surface remains the same overall. However, they have added piles of materials on the map so the player can use the Ultrahand ability to make stuff on the go. It also has added a new breakdown system, so if the player wants to defuse a weapon without the materials from disappearing they can do it from there.

The depths is the most dangerous place for players to go. It is extremely dark, so it’s best recommended that the player have some form of light on them. There’s this new substance on the ground called gloom and if the player steps in it for too long, they will permanently lose a heart and can not restore it until they leave the depths, eat a sunflower, or find a lightroot. Being attacked by enemies in the depth can also make the player lose a heart permanently as well. With two new areas to explore the player can continue to explore the game high in the sky, in the bottom of the depths, or on the simple, solid surface.

Special Arrows

In Breath of the Wild, the player was only able to shoot five different types of arrow: normal, fire, ice, lighting, and ancient arrows. In Tears of the Kingdom those arrows make a return but with a big difference. Before the arrows were already separate things meaning that the player can only pick those arrows to fire. Now the arrows are now based on what the player puts on the arrow with the Fuse ability. So if the player puts a fire fruit on an arrow, it becomes a fire arrow, if they put a ice fruit on it, it becomes an ice arrow and so on. Unfortunately, the player can’t make ancient arrows and still has to buy them. The player can also put different things on the arrows now to improve the strength of the arrow, like horns, blades, or even meat. The game allows the player to customize their experience.

Conclusion

Even though Tears of the Kingdom has many differences, some people still insist that it’s just a plain copy and paste from Breath of the Wild. The way I see it, it has improved on what Breath of the Wild has done before making the world more open and free to explore. Now will it win Game of the Year? In my opinion, even though there are other games like Spider-man 2 and Super Mario: Wonder coming this year, I believe that it can win Game of the Year due to its time of release, the enjoyment of gameplay,  and how unique it is from most games today.